The 24-hour all-health channel which debuted months ago already covers 23 African countries with its brand of health programming for a general audience, said Dr Bright Echefu, chief exceutive officer of Bricke & Athens which owns AHTV.
The channel is taking advantage of ongoing digitalisation of TV across the continent to reach an estimated 93 million homes on platforms as Daarsat, GoTV and Startimes, and is expected to begin beaming on DSTV in three months, according to Dr Echefu, who’s worked in health radio previously.
Some 30 programmes featuring live chats with doctors, diseases, emergency response, travel and sports medicine, dental and nutrition health tips, and a full-blown news cast are already on offer since its live-on-air launch in Abuja on Thursday. It also carries medical dramas as Grey’s Anatomy and Embarrassing Bodies.
“There’s need for Africa to get better, accurate evidence based information that will help them take the right decision for their health,” said Dr Chris Otabor, chief medical advisory committee for AHTV.
“There’s a gap between the knowledge people should have concerning their health and what they actually have. This gap leads to wrong decision making and people who ordinarily should not have died find themselves passing on because they lack adequate knowledge.”
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